Long term HRT may protect women from Alzheimer's disease

A new study has found that diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease were less likely in women who used hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the past than in women who had never used it.

The risk was nearly three times lower among current users who reported taking HRT for more than a decade than in women who never used HRT, reaching a level similar to that seen in elderly men. However, the women in the study were not randomly assigned to take the treatment (JAMA 2002;288:2123-9)

Dr Peter Zandi from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, …